At United Language Group, our experience and commitment to quality have helped us understand our pivotal role in creating true end-to-end partnerships. Most language service providers (LSPs) understand the value of building partnerships with their customers in order to best serve their needs, but at ULG, we know that those partnerships can only be successful if we also create true collaboration with our linguistic teams.
Effective Information Sharing
We mirror all our tried-and-tested customer onboarding processes, from getting to know the client team to understanding the process and gathering information and reference materials, in our linguist onboarding and engagement process. Otherwise, we would risk a disconnect between what the customer is communicating to their LSP and the translations the linguists are producing, based on what they think is expected of them. Many global organizations have experienced this game of telephone when they don’t see the requirements they clearly expressed reflected in the end translations delivered to them.
The ULG linguistic engagement process uses steps such as our documented linguist selection process, but that is only the beginning because consistently achieving translation quality and customer satisfaction requires more than just selecting the right linguists and getting in touch with them when content is ready for translation. When we initiate linguist onboarding activities, we aim to truly get the linguists on to the client’s team. This starts with ensuring that information is shared effectively—not just once, but over time when changes occur, new reference material becomes available, or new information needs to be passed on. We do this by building client-dedicated internal microsites that contain all relevant information, ensuring we effectively manage the flow of information from our various customer stakeholders right through to all our selected linguists.
Ongoing Communication and Training
Our process also ensures the linguistic teams have regular calls, get opportunities to provide feedback or ask questions, and have a chance to take part in customer-specific activities such as surveys or client knowledge quizzes—prizes included! In this partnership, ULG also understands the need to listen to what the linguistic teams are communicating over time and feed this information into our continuous improvement programs.
A Team Approach
In this way, we ensure we all share in the successes of our clients’ strategies for reaching new markets, for instance, supporting staff and customers in their local languages, working with local businesses, or running global clinical trials. We know that for our linguists, feeling part of the team provides great motivation to produce their best possible translations. The results are measurable and the benefits undeniable—for everyone.
